-"Come on lads! Live the adventure! We're just getting started!"—Mr. Cole called far up ahead on the trail, as he walked with a boosting energy nobody else from the entire group seemed to experiment—"Sawyer, you're supposed to be a Phys. Ed teacher! What's gotten you so far back? Come and be an example for the class!"
Mr. Hartman, who unlike the science teacher was last in the line, was barely keeping up at all. He kept puffing and huffing and his tongue stuck out from exhaustion and dehydration, which was weird because he kept drinking from a metal flask he carried along with him (Everybody knew it wasn't water, except for Caspar who was too naïve to see otherwise).
-"You... damn... fitness... monster..."—cried Mr. Hartman in his slow, unsteady pace—"I... will... cut... you... scalp... for... this...!"
-"That's the spirit Sawyer!"—cheered Mr. Cole, unfazed by his colleague's bad attitude—"Come on blokes! Be attentive for the green-chested Sparrow! That's our big prize for the day! Take a good picture!"
It was Saturday around nine in the morning, or something of the sort. Connor wasn't very sure, because he had left his phone charging back at the lodge and his silver wristwatch wasn't really working properly, but like usual he had forgotten to get it checked. Since he never took it off, it was very seldom when he asked for it to be taken to a technician. Usually, he'd clean and polish it himself, but he knew rat about watches' interiors.
When Mr. Cole said he wanted the experience to be as vivid as possible, he wasn't kidding, not for a bit. At six in the morning everyone was awoken by a radio blasting off-full volume to AC/DC's Highway to Hell. Very fitting for a public high school. For breakfast, everyone was given a tiny orange juice box and a choice between a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a bowl of oatmeal (Lilly had hers without milk, because she was trying to go vegan) and then a banana for "dessert". They weren't allowed to use the showers early in the morning, firstly because there was no hot water and secondly because according to Mr. Cole, they would sweat their bums off with the hike, which made it pointless to shower beforehand. And around seven am sharp, they were already walking uphill in the forest track that went far deep into the park. It was supposed to be shaped like a circle of sorts, so after the walk was done, they would be back at camp right away in time for lunch.
Everyone was wearing jeans and hiking boots, carrying little weight on backpacks meant to be filled only with water bottles and a change of clothes just in case. There were of course the few exceptions, like a couple of girls who for some reason only God can fathom were hiking in fancy shoes, or guys who thought that wearing shorts would be cool regardless of the mosquitoes plaguing the entire park. All in all it was fun to watch.
Caspar turned out to be really fit, and he was biting Mr. Cole's shoes during the entire thing. Nothing seemed to be able to hold him down, and his good mood was to feel envious for. It was hard to picture him as a morning person, but looks are deceiving. Joe, on the other hand, was much more similar to Mr. Hartman. But, since he didn't want to walk alone and Caspar was the easiest to cling on to, he tried to keep up, albeit the sudden exhaustion spams that went here and there. Alexa and Lilly walked together. They hadn't spoken much since they left their tent, besides stuff like 'pass me the water' and 'here you go'. However, it didn't seem like they had a fight of any sorts. They were being extremely polite around each other, but not at all unfriendly. Instead they seemed sort of tense and, let's face it, sleep deprived. Alexa's sunglasses made her look hungover, and Lilly's drooling mouth wasn't doing much for her either.
Connor had always had good stamina for hikes and jogging, so this wasn't really much of a challenge to him. He managed to keep a steady pace, not too far back from Mr. Cole, but still isolated enough so that he and Troye could talk without being bothered.
-"... So..."—Troye asked—"... Are you sure... you don't want to talk about it?"
-"... I... I rather not to. It's very... personal."—Connor answered, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.
The fatigue from walking so long under the autumn sun was already starting to affect Connor, sweat running down his forehead and his feet going sore. The forest around him kept changing shapes and colors, all forms of greens and browns as far as the eye could see, and the sound of every living thing crawling around each corner. He walked tired and, just as everyone else, eager to find the damned bird so that they could catch a break.
-"You do know that I'm here, you know. If you need me."—Troye said, each word more determined than his previous one.
-"I do. Really. It's just that..."
Connor didn't know what it was.
All his life, the accident years ago and what came from it had been a secret, forbidden to be spoken aloud. It didn't only bring back terrible memories, but it also made every nightmare become real.
It appeared in front of him, all over again.
The screaming of his parents fighting on the front seat of the car.
The sound of lightning and rain.
The honking of the red truck that collided against them, like a bullet ending a man's life...
Connor had had his fair share of therapists and psychologists in the past. They had all cared so very much and had been oh so concerned, or so they said. He knew that to them he was just another filer to fill, another tragic child to meet once a day so that they wouldn't do anything stupid when the system didn't have their eyes on them. He'd always nodded to everything they said, spoken when asked and then left. Nothing went wrong. The papers were all signed. The forms were filled. Connor wasn't a serious case, he was manageable. Less to worry about for the system.
So it had been years since Connor had spoken to anyone about what had happened, and even Alexis had learned to respect that.
-"... Is it ok if I ask something? I promise it's not about that."
Connor doubted Troye's word, but nodded granting him his permission regardless.
-"The day you first arrived here, at the gas station."—Troye asked, seemingly being quite cautious with his words—"Did you see whom I was with?"
Connor frowned at the strange question. If he recalled correctly, he had seen Troye hugging a girl and getting into a car with her. He didn't remember anything else. He did remember how much he despised that Troye paid for what they bought at the gas station, regardless the good intention. The memory made him grumpier than what he already was.
-"I saw someone from far away."—Connor said, then turning to Troye—"Why? Wasn't it Lia?"
-"No, no... it... wasn't her..."
Whatever was the reason for Troye's question, Connor decided to leave the subject there. He didn't want to become too involved, or else he'd feel like he would have to say stuff in return to give back to Troye for telling him his. He didn't need that. He didn't want to owe someone. Not even his friend.
At least he was no longer pissed at him for picking up his family picture the night before. Troye had also gotten that the reason why Connor had left his house the other day was because, well, his family reminded Connor too much of his past. And even without being a foster kid himself, Troye understood how much that had to hurt.
Well, he didn't understand how much. But he could imagine it.
-"Tell you what?"—Troye said, earning Connor's attention—"I know it's only been a month since we've met and everything, but given all that's happened... you know, I really do consider you my friend."
Connor almost smiled to himself after hearing that. Then, a mental image of Alexis jumping of joy and chanting 'FINALLY! CONNOR IS NO LONGER SOCIALLY AWKWARD!' played on his head, and he scoffed, shaking his head from the sole thought of it.
-"So, you know..."—Troye continued—"If there's every any chance that you do want to talk about it... Just call me out."
Connor let out a sigh, and then looked at Troye and nodded with a slight grin. Friendship works both ways after all. But, for the rest of the day, he hoped he wouldn't have to think about any of that again.
Two more hours into the walk, and here's what they had found so far: and oversized yet still inhabited beehive, a grey fox that ran way faster than Caspar chasing after it, a couple of praying mantis which didn't want to be bothered at the time and a cave that used to be a bear's lair. Yet, not a single sign of the damned bird. It finally seemed like Mr. Cole was starting to lose some of his toxic enthusiasm.
-"Come on, kids... we... we're gonna find one! Yeah, any minute now!"—he would say, and be responded with nothing but groans of exhaustion.
The minute took a little bit longer than originally thought. It never came, to be precise.
Perhaps it was about time to give up already, but eventually Mr. Cole said they should better get back to camp. Not without first catching their breath for a little, of course, and have a water break by the riverside. By this point, Mr. Cole had already admitted that the bird wasn't even going to show. He blamed pollution, climate change and politicians.
Connor sat on a rock not too close to the shore, joined of course by Troye, Caspar and Joe. They were waiting for Lilly to come sit with them, given she had been hiking alongside Alexa and they had a slowed pace than the rest of them. Connor wasn't too tired and neither was Troye, but they were overshadowed by Caspar's exaggerated stamina.
-"I hadn't had this good a walk in weeks!"—Caspar said, taking a sip from his water—"It feels so exhilarating!"
-"WALK...!? YOU CALL THIS... A WALK...!?"—Joe yelled-whispered, unable to get a proper breath across his panting—"I FEEL... VIOLATED...!"
-"You're overreacting Joe."—Troye said with a laugh—"This is actually really good for you. Look at Caspar! He's like a fish in the water!"
It was funny seeing how Caspar seemed to glow with his sweat whilst Joe seemed to be absolutely miserable, but that's what you get from karma from time to time. Connor spotted Lilly all on her own, picking up a water bottle from a sick-of-it Mr. Hartman, and called her up.
-"Lilly!"
Lilly spotted Connor waving at her, smiled, and walked towards her friends. She took a seat next to Connor, sighing from the exhaustion of the long walk.
-"Oh, man!"—she grumped—"I don't think I've hiked this much pretty much since... well never!"
She then turned around to make sure Mr. Cole wasn't around, and then added.
-"All for a lame-ass bird. Seriously though, when are we supposed to find one!?"
-"I don't think we are anytime soon."—Troye said—"The universe is not on our side."
-"The weather isn't either."—Connor mocked—"This sun does not seem like autumn at all."
-"Hehe... ye' know, mate, I wouldn't talk bad of the sun..."
Connor raised an eyebrow at Joe, who suddenly seemed to have enough energy to make fun of people again.
-"Why do you say that?"
-"Well, this right now is a rarity. But just you wait. As soon as November's here, all you are going to see is rain. And then, in December, it won't stop snowing all the way to February."
-"That's true."—Troye mentioned—"Winters in Yule are harsh."
Connor scoffed. He had lived his entire life in the north, he was very well used to harsh winters. He had never been any further south than Illinois, even during his entire travels as a foster kid. He did go to other places with his parents as a kid, but that was short lived.
-"I'm no stranger to winters."—Connor said—"I'm originally from Minnesota."
-"You don't say?"—Caspar asked, intrigued—"Is Alexis from there, too?"
Connor frowned his lips a bit.
-"Now, she's from Chicago..."
Suddenly, the sound of a phone ringing interrupted the conversation abruptly. Troye reached into his pocket, revealing he had taken his cellphone with him to the hike.
-"... Shit. It's Lia..."—Troye looked up to his friends apologetically, seemingly waiting for their approval to get the call.
It was Lilly who spoke up.
-"Dude, really? What can she possibly want right now...?"
Joe and Caspar seemed to be of similar thinking, so Connor thought it'd be best if he went for the blue eyed boy's aid.
-"It's alright man, go answer."
Troye nodded to Connor thankfully, got up from his seat, and walked away with phone in hand, answering to his girlfriend's call. Caspar shook his head disapprovingly, as Joe mimicked a whip with his hand, accidentally hitting Caspar in the process. As an obvious result, the two of them were now wrestling on the forest floor, Mr. Cole trying to pull them apart and Mr. Hartman just laughing at them and taking sips from his metal flask.
-"Man."—Lilly complained to Connor—"She just won't let him be! She's so—ugh! Unbelievable..."
-"Well, since they are a couple now"—Connor said—"it was only to be expected for her to become... you know, more present."
-"Augh... I know, I know..."
They remained in silence for a couple of minutes, enjoying the time remaining in their break. Connor could see Troye close to the river's shore, speaking on the phone with Lia. He thought about what he had learned last night, about how Troye and Lia push each other towards achieving their goals. He wondered if any of Troye's friends knew or understood that. Probably not.
-"Hey"—Lilly said—", is it just me or are you and Troye... like, friends now?"
-"... Well yeah, if you put it that way."
-"That's great! I knew you two would get along eventually...!"
Lilly rested her head on her arms, looking extremely pleased. Like one would be after days of hard work. Connor scoffed at her silliness.
-"Well, what about you and Alexa?"
Lilly opened one eye to look at Connor, rather dubiously.
-"What about us?"—she asked.
-"Well, you two seem to get along now. Isn't that it?"
Lilly sat up straight, and gave out a long sigh, her frowned eyes lost in the distance, without any particular direction. Lost in thought.
-"... Well, let's just say that... I may have misjudged her. A lot."
It was weird to hear such a confession from Lilly, Connor thought. She had only crossed him as the most confident, sassy and unapologetic person he'd ever met. This girl who despised all the popular cliques of the school, seemed to have had a change of heart on one of the heads.
-"What does that mean...?"
-"... What I said."—Lilly then looked at Connor before going on—"I misjudged her. She..."
Lilly took another long pause. She seemed so puzzled in her own thoughts. What could be driving her so fazed, Connor did not know.
-"... She's not that bad of a person after all."
---
As one would have it, the search for the green-chested sparrow was the ultimate failure.
Everyone was back at the campsite and the lodge around one thirty in the afternoon, albeit like a starving pack of wolves. There was a pretty generous lunch (Well, as generous as soup and a sandwich can be), and afterwards they were supposed to gather up information from their hike and recollect it in their worksheets. The idea was to have them ready for Monday, so there was a necessity to get them started that day. Thankfully for Connor, Troye was just as good in science as he was in every other subject, and his working pace was quick enough for them to be free around five pm. Not the same could be said about Caspar and Joe, of which neither was really that brainy as it turned out.
After been given some free time, Connor decided to take nap in his tent. Troye said there was something he had to do and had been off, and the rest of the people were working, so it was pretty much the perfect and only time for him to relax. Those were seldom around anymore.
But Connor couldn't sleep.
He wasn't tired enough, and definitely wasn't relaxed enough to do so.
His conversation from the past night with Troye kept chasing him. The ghosts of his mother and father too real to be ignored now. The faceless memories of his siblings, lost somewhere he'd never know, haunting the back of his mind.
"Why?", he wondered, "Why did I have to tell him?"
Letting that story out was like granting freedom to the beast. Now it roamed around, and everywhere Connor looked he saw it. He knew then he wouldn't have peace of mind. Not again, not for a very long time.
When he got tired of trying, he exited the tent, decided to go anywhere to ease his mind. Surprisingly for him, there seemed to be somebody else on the same boat as him.
Alexa was standing still all on her own, with her arms crossed, not too far away from the lodge's main building. She seemed to have her eyes closed, and her hair flowed with the wind. Her mouth slightly open, as if taking in air. She seemed to be waiting for something.
Connor walked towards her tentatively, with slow paces. She didn't look too different from the girl he saw the night of The Brits' concert at The Yule Space. She still had her red flaming her, and she still wore lips red like blood. Yes, she was still the same girl who gave him her number. But even being that girl, she seemed... different.
-"... What are you doing out here?"—Connor asked.
-"... Listening."
Connor found her answer extremely bizarre, but then, he heard it too.
Music.
Coming from somewhere within the lodge, there was music playing. Or rather, being played. It seemed to be some sort of piano, but Connor didn't recognize the song. However, he couldn't help but to stand there, mesmerized at what he listened. It was...
-"... Beautiful, isn't it?"—Alexa asked, then turning to Connor—"It's not every day something like that sounds in the middle of the forest."
Her bright hazel eyes made her look menacing and powerful. Connor couldn't help but wonder if they had always been like that. If she had always been this huntress of fire.
-"Having a fun weekend, bad boy?"—she asked, walking around Connor in circles—"Since the bird was nowhere to be seen, we could say it's been a total success."
-"You could say that, and play glass-half-full."—Connor answered.
-"Hmph. I didn't picture you the glass-half-full type."
-"... How come?"
-"I don't know... I'm good at reading people."
She stopped and looked at Connor in his eyes.
-"... But you are written in an entirely different language, bad boy."
Connor frowned and didn't say anything. Alexa grinned, like she didn't really care. She started caressing the neck of his shirt.
-"You are really interesting."—she said—"A mystery. Mystery novels are my favorite..."
Then, she pulled away, the grin still plastered on her face.
-"... But it's pointless when they don't want to be read. And you don't want me to read you... not yet, at least."
Connor didn't know how to feel about this. It wasn't a romantic confession or anything close to it, but it was a spark of interest, and at the same time, a sign of awareness. Alexa was much more observant than what she seemed. The girl of fiery hair, the one who meets Lisbug on the afternoons... what was with her?
Alexa started walking away towards the campsite, probably to the tents. Connor called for her.
-"You don't want to go check out where the music's coming from?"
-"Oh, I'll leave that to you."—Alexa said without stopping or turning back—"Wouldn't want to interrupt."
Connor raised an eyebrow at her.
"Interrupt? What on earth could she mean by interrupt?"
Connor didn't understand her one bit.
He turned his attention back to the mysterious music, and followed the sound into the lodge's main building. It wasn't really that much other than a large hall with several sitting couches and a fireplace for long nights. There were also stairs that led to the second floor, and that meant that wherever the piano was had to be up there. Connor moved his way to the second story of the building. There was a small hallway with several door on his right, and several windows to his left that allowed the dusk sunlight to fade in. On the very end, there was a semi-open door, from where the music came from.
Connor walked slowly towards it, and realized that the music had company. A voice. A singing voice. A singing voice he had heard before, but now was so different.
Opening the door slowly, Connor walked into an empty room except for a large, old piano, and Troye playing it and singing, oblivious to everything and everyone around him.
-"...Take me back to the basics, and the simple life..."—he sung—"Tell me all of the things that make you feel at ease..."
Connor had never heard that song before, but he was certainly amazed by it. And even more so by Troye's ability at playing it. Which is why the second the wooden floor beneath him creaked, he felt absolutely idiotic.
Troye stopped playing, immediately snapping his head around in a panic.
-"For fucks sake, Connor!"—he exclaimed—"For how long have you been standing there!?"
-"Just now... hey what song was that...?"
-"NOTHING!"—Troye said, closing and hiding away a notebook Connor hadn't noticed before—"Nothing! That song was nothing!"
-"... Ok... if you say so..."
Troye seemed in between sorry and offended. Whatever he had been playing was probably something he wasn't too sure about, and he certainly didn't want anyone to hear it. Connor could only think about his thoughts journal when it came to that.
-"Sorry it's just that"—Troye said—"it's something I'm working on, and it's far from ready..."
-"It's ok... I get it."—Connor said reassuringly—"You don't have to show me if you don't want to... It was pretty good, though."
Troye looked at him rather surprised.
-"You... you really think so?"
-"Well, from what I could hear, yeah, I do."
Troye didn't want to look flattered, but he couldn't really help it.
-"Well... th-thanks."—he said to Connor, then looking at him and trying to seem as appeased as possible—"I thought you said you wanted to take a nap?"
-"I wasn't that tired."—Connor said, then coming up with an idea—"Hey, actually... this is a great spot... do you mind if I take a picture of you on the piano?"
-"W-what?"
-"Yeah! I won't post it anywhere, I swear. But this is room is really cool, it'll just take a second."
Troye stammered with his speech, and waved his hands as dismissively as possible.
-"Sure..."
Connor didn't knew what had gotten into him. Usually he wouldn't ask for permission to take a picture, let alone want to take one so at random. But he dismissed all of those thoughts, and then changed his standing position and the filters of his phone's camera so that the lightning could fit the photo. By this point, he had already learned how to do it quite easily. And just like that, the picture was taken.
-"Done."—Connor announced.
-"Let me see."
Connor walked to Troye, handing him the phone. Troye looked at the picture, hiding a smile that wanted to crawl upon his face.
-"Damn, I look terrible..."—he said.
-"That's bull. Everyone hates how they look in pictures."—Connor said—"If I recall correctly, you said yourself that I'm good at this, so you don't have anything to complain about."
-"You don't say..."
Troye started scrolling through Connor's pictures, just like he had done the day before, observing each one like it was something he'd never seen before in his life. The pictures from today's hike and the ones from yesterday he hadn't seen.
-"You really do put effort into this..."
But then, Troye reached a picture and he stopped. It was one of the most recent ones.
-"... Connor?"
-"Huh?"
-"Where did you get this...?"
Connor looked at the picture Troye meant. It was the one of the lonely bird he had seen on his way to the sun flower meadow.
-"Did you download it online or something?"—Troye asked.
-"What? No..."—Connor scoffed—"I spotted that bird on the way to the sunflower field yesterday."
Troye looked at Connor with eyes extremely wide.
-"What is it?"—Connor asked.
-"Connor."—Troye said as if it were obvious, and then pointed at the bird—"THIS is the green-chested sparrow!"
Connor perched up, eyes as wide as Troye's.
-"You're kidding."
-"No I'm not!"—Troye clarified, standing up himself—"Come on! The ones who find it get extra credit! We have to go show this to Mr. Cole!"
-"Wait, like—now?"
-"YES, NOW!"
Connor didn't really mind that much about extra credit, but Troye on the other hand seemed to be extremely eager for it. He then realized it perhaps had to do with the fact that Troye was trying to get a scholarship for that music school he wanted to go to.
In the blink of an eye they were both already downstairs, and out the lodge, ready to head directly to Mr. Cole's. But as the universe would have it, people had other plans.
-"Hey lads!"—Joe called, approaching both of them with Caspar on his side, the two friends hiding something on their backs—"Ya busy?"
-"Well... actually..."—Troye started saying.
-"We were wondering if you'd like to play a game with us!"—Caspar said, with a menacing grin.
Connor's mind gears started to click the minute he noticed they were wearing shorts and old t-shirts. Troye, on the other hand, hadn't gotten the point across yet.
-"Listen, guys, it's not that we don't want to, we just need to find Mr. Cole and tell him that—"
-"TROYE, DOWN!"
Connor managed to throw himself down to the ground and push Troye alongside with him, as the first couple of water balloons flew past over them, colliding somewhere far back and splashing about. As Connor raised his eyes to meet Joe and Caspar's, it was already too late. As the two of them showed their repertoire of projectiles, they both screeched in full-long war cries.
-"WATER BALLOON FIGHT...!"
And then, all hell broke loose.
---
A/N
Sorry I had to do some last minute changes becuase for some reason Wattpad wouldn't allow me to publish this part and the next one as a single chapter, so now it's been divided into two.
Apologies for that xx
--Coffee